that's what happened to the director of a low budget slasher movie called "smiley" released today. nbc's mike taibbi has the details on this story. mike, good morning? here's the problem for michael gallagher. the bad guys in his website include a shadoey website and hacker group who has in the past penetrated government agencies and personal lives and once the online entities were mentioned in the film, gallagher and those close to him were targeted. >> tried to kill me. >> reporter: title character "smiley" is an urban legend killer who prowls for victims in the dark corners of the internet. >> you called smiley, and he came. >> reporter: dark corners that include the controversial message board 4chan and the hacker group anonymous. just a plot device, gallagher says, based on what is known about those so-called hacktivists. >> they communicate by sending pornographic images and gore and violence and very disturbing messages. >> reporter: gallagher, 23, and his 24-year-old lead actor, shane dawson, are internet entrepreneurs who have been posting videos for years on youtube and o